Now it is official that the Black Stars’ budget for their World Cup campaign in Brazil is $9.5 million (GHC24.677 million) and not $20 million, as thrown around with careless abandon for weeks.
Before the official announcement early this week by the Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga, speculation had been rife that a $20-million budget presented by the GFA was awaiting government approval.
Whether the figure was an accurate one or not was much beside the point, the rationale being that a similar budget of $19 million was approved for the last World Cup on African soil (South Africa) four years ago, so why not an even bigger budget in a country as distant and with varied and intriguing circumstances as Brazil?
Indeed, arriving at the current figure couldn’t have been an easy undertaking by the government, in view of what appeared a genuine proposal by the FA (if the speculated $20 million was correct) and the harsh economic conditions in the country.
Mr Ayariga must have confirmed this, as he was reported to have said that public outcry forced the government to slash down the budget. But will the slashing down not affect the Stars in any way during the tournament?
So, the question is, how much was the provisional or proposed budget as presented by the GFA to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and, subsequently, to the Cabinet before the slash?
How was the estimate done? What is the nitty-gritty or details captured by those who prepared the budget?
The devil, they say, is in the detail. We, therefore, wonder whether there was any or some discovery by the government of the ‘devil in the detail’ as to make the Cabinet slash the speculated $20 million drastically to $9.5 million!
The public was not apprised of the details, except the minister’s terse information, inter-alia:
“Cabinet has approved the release of GHC10,500,000 to the GFA to finance Ghana’s participation in the first group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
“A further amount of GHC14,177,025 has also been budgeted to cover the team’s expenses when they qualify for subsequent stages of the competition.
“This brings government commitment to the Black Stars’ participation to a total of GHC24,677,025.’’
Indeed, this commitment by the government is nothing further than a pre-finance of Ghana’s participation in the tournament, considering the fact that this is eventually borne by FIFA, who remits $1.5 million to the Stars for their preparation and $8 million for their participation (just like any of the 32 teams) up to the group level, totalling $9.5 million or GHC24,677,025.
It is the reason we expect the team’s management to return this money to government chest on its return from Brazil, just as it did the last time in 2010.
